How Your View of Love Changed Through Foster Care

Before foster care, I thought love was enough.

That it was soft, emotional, instinctive.

But then I met kids who didn’t trust it.

Who flinched at kindness. Who tested every boundary.

And I realized — love has to be tougher than that.

Love is cleaning up the same mess for the third time.

It’s showing up after the worst kind of meltdown.

It’s staying in the room when everything in you wants to leave.

Love became less about affection and more about endurance.

Less about what I felt, and more about what I chose.

And in that shift, I saw a glimpse of the Father’s love for me.

How many times had He stayed when I pushed Him away?

How often had He waited patiently for me to trust again?

Foster care didn’t just stretch my love — it sanctified it.

It moved me from emotion to action.

From warm feelings to gritty faithfulness.

Love, real love, looks a lot like Jesus.

Sacrificial. Steady. Long-suffering.